An offshore fish catch (Photo: infonet.vn)

In a letter to the Vietnamese Directorate of Fisheries last week, the EC’s inspection team recognized Vietnam’s co-operation, transparency, and honesty in providing and exchanging information.

They said Vietnam has made a lot of progress since their first inspection in May 2018 and is on track toward full compliance with the Fisheries Law and legal guiding documents. They noted significant improvement in the monitoring, control, and surveillance of fishing vessels.

The EC’s inspection team also acknowledged Vietnam’s effort to increase control of fishing density through freezing offshore fishing fleets.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has assigned a quota on offshore fishing permits to 28 coastal provinces.

But the EC said they will not withdraw the 2017 IUU yellow card until Vietnam fixes the problem of fishing in international waters. The inspection team will return to Vietnam to check on progress in six months.